200,000,000 girls and women alive today in 30 countries in Africa, in the Middle East and in Asia have undergone FGM.

In Europe, 500,000 women are living with FGM

The new report published by UNICEF in 2016 shows that more than 200,000,000 girls and women alive today in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia have undergone FGM. Thirty million more are at risk over the next ten years. The WHO and experts around the world agree that FGM can have serious consequences on women and girls’ physical and mental health.

Different organizations around Europe (End FGM European Campaign) have developed strategies against FGM. Awareness through the support and the protection of women and girls has always been the centre of NGO activities. The majority of sensitisation work, particularly in Europe, is carried out by women and there is a lack of male involvement in combating the practice. Today, FGM is seen as a "women's affair". Men hardly interfere on the issue and are badly informed about what this practice really is.

However, since the issue of FGM concerns all members of the community, men can play an important role in the process of ending FGM. Men's involvement in the fight against FGM is crucial and can accelerate the process to a complete abandonment of the practice in Europe, and by extension in the countries of origin.

With this project, we aim to engage men in the process of ending FGM and, on a larger scale, to end violence against women and promote gender equality through a human rights’ approach.

This project is co-funded by the DAPHNE Programme of the European Union